The ABCs of Google Adwords

October 20 / Chair 10 Marketing Team / filed under Pay-Per-Click

Trying to master AdWords is sort of like trying to fill up the Grand Canyon with water using a Dixie cup. The world of AdWords often shifts and changes, and there are details that you, as a businessperson, just won’t have time to stay on top of. That’s why it’s so helpful to hire experts who specialize in AdWords. Does that mean you can’t participate in strategy or at least learn to grasp what’s going on with your campaigns? Nope! In fact, that’s what this blog is all about.

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A is for Anatomy

There’s an anatomy to AdWords ads, and you should know the role each part plays.

  • Headline: This is the red flag you’ll use to wave down searchers, so make it good. Actually, make it great. People pick movies and books by title and they’ll make similarly snap judgments about your ad, too.
  • Description: This is where you expand on your headline. It can be a bit of a guessing game which is why people in the know do A/B testing.
  • Display URL: Your web address, plain and simple.

B is for Budget

AdWords is a PPC or pay-per-click system, meaning you’ll pay not a lump sum for the total campaign but rather each time a potential customer clicks on your ad. Your budget will be based on daily usage – if you can afford $5, great. If you can afford $500, well, you’re going to get more visibility and more potential clicks. Start where you’re comfortable and know that you can change it up whenever you need or want to.

C is for Crafting Keywords

This is arguably the most important part of creating an AdWords campaign, but many people assume the opposite. After all, it’s easy to pick out great keywords, right? Not so fast – there’s a reason we used the word “craft.” You want keywords that customers would enter into the Google search box to find your product and/or service, but there’s a fine line between overly generic terms that will leave you a small fish in a big sea and overly specific terms that will cause your pool of potentials to dwindle dangerously low.

Follow these rules for better-than-average results:

  • Be Your Customer: By imagining what you’d search for to find your own site, you can then work backward and create a more effective campaign.
  • Avoid Single Keywords: If you have a plumbing business and use the keyword “plumber,” you’ve gone way too generic. Use “24-hour plumber Atlanta,” though, and you’ve given people a way to find exactly what they need: you!
  • Use Negative Match: AdWords has four keyword matching options that are really useful, but the one we’re focusing on now is negative match because it’s a way to help you avoid wasting money. The last thing you need to do is pay for clicks when the customer isn’t going to be satisfied with what they find on your site. Using our plumber example again, maybe you do residential plumbing but not commercial. In that instance, you’d use the minus sign before the keyword “commercial” so that it doesn’t trigger your ad.

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D is for DO NOT Give Up!

AdWords isn’t easy but it is a gateway to better business. Prioritize your responsibilities and abdicate AdWords duties if you don’t have time to make sure you’re getting it right. Otherwise, have fun, and don’t be afraid to adjust expectations. Sometimes small changes reap really big rewards.